179. Kanara

Indian National Congress held the seat; the winning margin narrowed from 10.4% to 5.0%.

• Won on a lower shareIts own vote share fell 12.2% — it held because the rest of the vote was more divided.
• New challengerJanata Dal (JD) finished second with 33.0% — it did not contest here in 1984.
• Vote fragmentedThe top two took only 71.1% between them, down from 90.1% — the field split more ways.

Written from the constituency figures by a fixed set of rules — no language model.